CWL Pro League: What Did We Learn in Week One?

Week One of the Call of Duty Pro League has concluded brought a lot of talking points to the competitive community. Here, we will be breaking down some of the hot topics that have risen this week.

Midnight Esports are the Real Deal

Image Courtesy of Scuf Gaming

One of the biggest things we learned from the first week is that Midnight Esports can officially compete with the best in the game. All eyes were on their opening series with current Major Champions OpTic Gaming, a series in which they secured a convincing 3-0 win. Although OpTic had Thomas ‘ZooMaa’ Paparatto filling in for Brandon ‘Dashy’ Otell, they remain a very strong lineup, and to defeat them in such convincing fashion is a testament to how talented this Midnight squad is. They finish the week with a flawless 4-0 record, also defeating Evil Geniuses, Red Reserve and UYU, only dropping two maps in the process. Two stars of the squad have been Carson ‘Brack’ Newberry and Saul ‘Parzelion’ Masse-Siguenza, both of whom featured in the Scuf Gaming Team of the Week. The pair topped the Kill/Death ratio leaderboards, with a huge 1.3 and 1.28 respectively. The squad now has a 10 game win-streak on LAN, showing no signs of letting up.

Luminosity Gaming in Trouble

One of the biggest shocks of the week is just how poor Luminosity have been. Sitting at an abysmal 0-3 record, the squad have yet to win a series. With poor performances against Team Reciprocity, UYU and Red Reserve, LG only managed to win four maps on their way to a 4-9 map count. With some of the best Call of Duty players in the world, such as former World Champion Matthew ‘FormaL’ Piper and Pierce ‘Gunless’ Hillman, many fans are questioning where things are going wrong for the powerhouse lineup. Many have pointed to the poor performances of Josiah ‘Slacked’ Berry, who put up a sixth worst K/D of 0.86. Calls for a potential roster change have resulted, with questions looming over the team’s chemistry going into their second wave of Pro League matches this upcoming week.

Gen.G Continue Good Form

Off the back of an impressive 7-8th finish at CWL Las Vegas and a solid PLQ, this squad has been turning heads and establishing themselves as a very competent team. Two of the five squad members found themselves in the top 10 K/D spots, with Chance ‘Maux’ Moncivaez and Jared ‘Nagafen’ Harrell dropping 1.21 and 1.12 respectively. Michael ‘MajorManiak’ Szymaniak also found himself in the Scuf Gaming Team of the Week, helping his team out to a perfect 3-0 start. Only dropping three maps, the Gen.G squad have settled well into Pro League life, picking up victories against Red Reserve, Team Reciprocity and Evil Geniuses. The big tests for this squad come in their second round of Pro League matches, facing heavy hitters OpTic, Luminosity and Midnight next week. It will be interesting to see if Gen.G can pick up wins against fellow Division A front runners.

OpTic Gaming Power Through Sub Situation

Image Courtesy of MLG

The biggest story going into the week’s Pro League matches was ZooMaa stepping into the OpTic Gaming starting lineup in place of Dashy, who couldn’t travel due to VISA issues. The squad certainly hit a stumbling block early on, losing emphatically to an in-form Midnight team 0-3, but eventually pulled out series wins against UYU, Evil Geniuses and Team Reciprocity to give them a solid platform to build on going into the second week. ZooMaa put in a respectable performance under the circumstances, with a K/D of 0.96 after reverting back to an SMG. It was legendary duo Ian ‘Crimsix’ Porter and Damon ‘Karma’ Barlow who particularly shone for the current Major Champions, with the latter making it into the Scuf Team of the Week and putting up a K/D of 1.1. It is unclear if Dashy will return to the five man lineup in time for next week’s matches, but he would undoubtedly provide a big boost for OpTic as they look to kick on and challenge for that top spot in Division A.

What did you make of the Week One matches? Is there any talking points we missed? Let us know your thoughts!

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